The Pawikan Craze

In spite of everything, I joined the 2007 Pawikan Festival!

Click here for the full article.

Elison Hotel, Balanga, Bataan. This was where we stayed for the night.

While waiting for the Walk to start.

The Walk for a Cause, joining the force of the LANDBANK in Bataan, with scenic view feasting my eyes and senses.

At the Conservation Center in Nagbalayong.

A little baby pawikan in the hands of a young lady.

Bebang’s Chikiting waiting for the mini bus in Nagbalayong plaza.

In the old mini bus that we rode on our way to SBMA.

QUICK INFO

Transportation:

We took a cab — P105. Cheaper method — Take the MRT and alight at the Taft Station. The bus terminal is at the north-bound side of EDSA.

We rode the Genesis bus to reach Balanga — P136. In Balanga Genesis terminal, we took a tricycle to go to our hotel — P24 at P8 each.

From Balanga to Morong, we took the bus ride arranged by the tourism office. That was a long one-hour ride for a hungry person like me.
Accommodation:

We were supposed to camp in Morong. However, at 11:00 PM there was no transportation available anymore to get us there. Hence, we stayed for a while in a local hotel. Courtesy of the Bataan Tourism Office, we were booked at Elison Hotel.

The hotel was quite expensive for our budget — P1,350 for the three of us.
That’s an air-conditioned room with two beds, with an extra cushioned folding bed, cable TV, hot water, a couple packs of bath essentials and a nice comfort room.

Food:

For the Thursday dinner, we had Jollibee.

For the Friday breakfast, we had small ube breads in packs of 6 — P6 each or P12 for the two packs.

For the early lunch, we had pasta at a local small carinderia in Nagbalayong — P10 each for the pasta (palabok and spaghetti), P5 each pancake, and P7.50 for a bottle of Cheers. Our total bill was P55 — very affordable. The people were very warm, too.

Wait for the full blast chronicle of our trip when Ed and Bebang finally upload our pics.

Save the Pawikan, Don’t Litter

30-11-07_0906, originally uploaded by thortz.

In a celebration like the Pawikan Festival with hundreds of people joining the event, it is not surprising to see some trash scattered out of place.

However, this event — the 2007 Pawikan Festival — is celebrated as a way, among others, to promote the conservation of the endangered pawikans. Throwing trash properly is a basic responsibility of every citizen in preserving the beauty of our environment. It is actually every Filipino’s responsibility as prescribed by the law.

Help save Mother Earth

Pawikan Festival

I haven’t seen a live pawikan yet.  If they were in the zoo when I was a little kid, then maybe I already had.  Still, I love them.  Probably because of some little facts I have learned from a training I had a few years back.

I am not from Bataan.  I don’t even have relatives or close friends there (as far as I know).  I just want to post here and share to the world that hey, we have a Pawikan Festival in the Philippines! (I received this invitation through my e-mail as I contacted them months ago — for work.  Cool.  Hehe.)

So check this:

THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF BATAAN

in cooperation with

BATAAN TOURISM COUNCIL FOUNDATION, MUNICIPALITY OF MORONG, BANTAY PAWIKAN, INC. and ROCKED

invites you to the 

PAWIKAN FESTIVAL 2007

November 29-30, 2007

Pawikan Conservation Ceneter

Brgy. Nagbalayong,

Morong, Bataan

Introduction:

Established in September of 1999, the Community-based Pawikan Conservation in Bataan, Philippines depicts a picture of how big a small community effort translates development – man working for nature for a healthy co-existence not only for the present but for the future.  A community of poachers and turtle egg collectors now transformed into marine turtle conservation advocates is continuously taking on the challenge of protecting and conserving the remaining Olive Ridley species, the smallest of the eight species in the world.  For a long period, eggs of these endemic marine turtles were collected while some nesters were poached that served as one primary source of livelihood for the community.  The meager income provided by the trade helped them to send their kids to schools, buy food, pay their debts among many others notwithstanding the damage they were inflicting to the balance of the marine biodiversity.  Over time, nesters became fewer and the nesting season became shorter.

Now, after a few years of the project framed in an in-situ conservation scheme and highlighting the importance of community participation after a comprehensive capacity building work, the endangered turtles are slowly flourishing.  This time, their fate lies in the hands of the people who use to exploit them now equipped with the awareness of their importance in the marine ecosystem, the community’s most important life-support base.  Since 1999, the Bantay Pawikan had released more than 40,000 hatchlings back to the sea.

The Pawikan Festival

For the past years, the Bantay Pawikan, Inc. and the Morong local government unit have been conducting the Pawikan Festival during the last week of November. Now on its third year, the Bataan Tourism Council Foundation, Inc. in cooperation with the Provincial Tourism Office, had organized series of activities that aims to generate awareness and gather funds for the continuous development and rehabilitation of the conservation center. This symbolic celebration will hopefully bring sustainable progress to Bataan in terms of safeguarding the natural environment and unify people from all walks of life under the preservation program.

 

 

DAY 1 SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

  

7:00AM–12:00NN    STREET DANCE COMPETITION     

                                      Morong Town Plaza                                                                

                                                                       

9:00 AM                 VOLLEYBALL   (Elimination)                                                       

9:00 – 10:00 AM        NATURE’S CAMP                             

2:00 – 3:00 PM           (Lecture & Film Showing)                    

3:30 – 4:30 PM           

7:00 – 11:00 PM       PAWIKAN PATROLLING                 

 

 

DAY 2 SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

 

                                                                       

5:00 AM    ”SAVE THE PAWIKAN”  WALK FOR A CAUSE  (Nagbalayong      Highschool to Pawikan Center)                                                                    

8:00 AM   RELEASING OF PAWIKAN HATCHLINGS   

9:00 AM   KITE FLYING COMPETITION 

9:00 AM   BEACH VOLLEYBALL COMPETITION (Finals)

9:00 AM   SAND SCULPTURE COMPETITION                                     

9:00 AM   PADDLE PAINTING CONTEST                                

10:00 -11:00 AM    NATURE’S CAMP                             

2:00 – 3:00 PM       (Lecture & Film Showing)                    

4:00 – 5:00 PM       Pawikan Conservation Center                                                   

                                                                                               

3:00 PM                  BODY PAINT CONTEST                  

                                                                                               

7:00 PM                 BEACH CONCERT featuring the CHILLITEES, SOUND and other MANILA ARTISTS           

  

For any queries pls. contact the Provincial Tourism Office/ BTCFI Secretariat at (047) 237 4785/ 237 4476/ 0919 481 3959 or email: tourism_bataan@yahoo.com,  and look for Ms. Rochelle R. Palaypay.

You could also visit our website   http://www.bataan.gov.ph/ for downloadable forms and details. 

Explore…Experience… and Enjoy… Bataan